car is packed and ready to head off tomorrow evening. still not 100% sure where to go.

not interested in full-on downhill. my idea of heaven is the W2 at Afan.

so… Morzine (camping at les marmottes) or Les Arcs (no idea on camping sites)

thoughts?

Les arcs. Unless of course you’re 18, have never cycled abroad, or sampled mutzig before and love braking bumps?

I’ve heard that there is a campsite at the bottom of the funicular in bourg-st-mourice… would this be a good bet for camping?

Had a huge downpour all day yesterday in Morzine, so tracks drenched.
However, going to be good this weekend..allegedly.

There is stuff to ride here if you aren’t looking for just DH.
Been a big influx of riders on more enduro bikes this year.

Braking bumps not the problem this season, it has been the rain.
But given your trail preferences you might be better off with Les Arcs.

Les Arcs but not all in the resort (La Thuile, St Foye and some time with a guide)

right sorted… off to les arcs… going to camp at le versoyen.

can ride out of bourg or drive up to arc 1800 to take the tranarc up to col del a chal.

does anyone know of any good online resources for trail maps?

I’d check when the lifts close carefully. Trail maps are available in the lift offices.

Camping le Versoyens in Bourg – walking/riding distance to Funicular, shopping centre across the road, with cafe with pretty blonde english girl, an bike shop in behind it.

sorted…

just remembered I have forgotten to order up spare brake pads… damn… guess i’ll just need to dig deep and buy out there.

Les Arcs all day long.

they’re no dearer than at home – its all monopoly money anyway!

I think Les Arcs lifts close on the 30th August. Morzine / Les Gets closes on the 7th September. If someone could confirm as I would like to go somewhere for 14th-21st September.

oh crap… that’s not great… maybe need to go to morzine after all 🙁

guess I will do 2 days out of les arcs and then drive over the morzine for the rest.

have you looked at pila and la thuile? just an hour and a bit from bourg st maurice and if i remember correctly the lifts stay open longer.

La Thuile lifts close on the 31st Aug.
Pila Lifts close on the 7th Sept.

Both worth a visit, Pila is more DH orientated, but they do have an 11km DH route that is pretty awesome.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKVsnJYTFjI&list=UUWmRWrg3S1Ayl-C6VJSUtCQ[/video]

There always seems to be a lot of secrecy about the trails, but I found this very useful.
Also try Strava explore, activities. If you search with keywords including a popular holiday operator out there, you should find some good routes.

I guess if I can try to get myself up relatively high for the final lifts of the day on Saturday, I can get myself back to Bourg for early evening and a good chill out, before packing up bright and early on sunday morning for the 2hr drive over the morzine… this should get me out on the morzine trails for mid-morning.

It’s not secrecy it’s just they’re hard to find and hard to explain where they go as there are lots of similar looking trails going all over the place. Some are ace some are not and some just disappear leaving you with a big old walk out. An Ign map and some time on Strava will see you right but whether you can see stuff on the ground when you get there is another matter.

If you’ve got a car and don’t mind travelling about you can ride Chamonix and Verbier too. Lifts open into September, bit late to do all the research though as best trails aren’t “bike park” buy a Chamonix Bike Book from Zero-G.

Will drop you an email.

EDIT: suggest you drop Trail Addiction and White Room an email and ask very nicely if you can tag onto any of their groups, it will be money very well spent

La Thuile was particularly awesome this year, with the EWS stages still taped out when we went, I Had a terrific day of playing “Catch me if you can” with Alex from The White Room down there 😉

what’s val d’isere like? I see the lifts are free at this time of year

@camp, some other posters on here said the free lifts/trails in Tignes where good – have a search of threads (@scott from QECP was out there).

@jambalaya – cheers for the email.

I think i’ll avoid morzine on account of the mud situation and base myself out of les arcs… it’s only a 45 minute drive to tignes, so I can head out there on the sunday and maybe even the Saturday too. that all sounds much easier than switching campsites midway on such a short trip.

remember the fenicular is the only thing open on a saturday, however it runs till 1930hrs so you can get a full day in on the lower techy stuff